This isn’t the first time I’ve painted peacock eyes: I did so once before in 2008 for this portrait of a woman whose name means “peacock.” For more about the making of Impractical fashion, guy edition, watch this vlog. Below is the text from the book Crime Against Nature that goes with this image—the book can be read and purchased here.

What’s more, boys can be the pretty ones.

Blue peacocks were supposed to have evolved their colorful predator-attracting tails as a way to impress the comparatively plain hens, but more recent research indicates that the evolutionary pressures responsible for the beautiful display were more about fitting in with the other cocks and less about giving the females something to cluck about.